Predicting the Melting of Permafrost

(University of Fribourg, July 09, 2013)

Permafrost, constantly frozen soil, is important for the stability of hill slopes, and therefore also for the safety of villages and traffic routes in the Swiss alps. Geographers from the University of Fribourg have developed a computational model predicting at which point in time a particular permafrost zone will start to melt due to climate change. The timing of this process is strongly dependent on local conditions, such as air temperatures, ice content of the soil but also whether the area in question is covered by snow. Among other regions, the researchers investigated the permafrost at Schilthorn, a 2970 m peak in the Bernese alps. They expect the permafrost in this region popular for hiking to start melting as soon as in ten to twenty years.